Michigan Rockhounding Locations

The following maps are based on data from the Mineral Resources Data System

The data in the system is sometimes less than accurate, as it was drawn from old sources and not checked against reality. It does give clues as to what might be found where and possible areas to explore.

If you click on some of the dots in the lake you'll note what I meant about some inaccuracies in the data. I'm pretty sure the North Kearsarge isn't a few miles off the shore of Isle Royale. Most of these glaring errors are due to transposed, dropped, and misentered digits in the coordinates. These are relatively easy to fix.

Indicates a Copper Mine. Indicates a Copper ProspectOther Symbols are variations on these two. Bright Yellow indicates Minerals other than Copper.Black indicates a Pit or QuarryRed indicates Questionable data or location.A black dot at the center of the symbol indicates no known name.

Because of the amount of data in each of these maps they are slow to load.Be patient, when you can pan/zoom the map, the data should be visible.

Michigan Fossils

This is a Google map showing fossil locations for the Lower Penninsula of Michigan.This is a Google map showing fossil sites in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan.

The information for these maps was gathered by Donnald Kenney and released under a Creative Commons License. I have, to the best of my ability, corrected location errors and supplied site data where possible.But with over 200 listings there are bound to be some errors and omisions.Additionaly, as Mr. Kenney points out on his page, with the passage of time conditions may/will have changed at these sites. Some will be covered but others nearby with similar material may have opened. Use these sites to locate prospective areas rather than as an absolute guide.And as always, Respect private property - Obtain permission BEFORE entering any property.

Mr. Kenney has created a database of fossil locations for the entire country and continues to update and improve it. It should prove usefull for any fossil collector. Give it a look!

Here is the Michigan portion of the database updated to April 2011 in .CSV format.

And Please send me updated information if you have it! webmaster (at) michrocks.org

More! Michigan Rocks and Minerals

This map will cover Michigan collectables other than Copper. There aren't all that many so this map covers the whole state.